The Jokes on Us...

So all the drama from two days ago are a distant memory. We are back to the dreaded Gare du Nord and wonder if we walked through platform 9 3/4 last time. Where we now sit is a modern station - light, not too crowded with perhaps fewer English speakers but big smiles at our fractured French. Where is the dark world we entered on Monday?

Entering train station from underground metro

Our train in three hours. Paris du nord to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam

It is still Paris, so soldiers as well as police roam the station - armed to the teeth, fingers on triggers - fulfilling, I think, Macron's vow to react strongly to all threats. 

Gare du Nord